In a unique twist of marketing, a Toronto man is capitalizing on the popularity (read: notoriety) of the city’s embattled mayor to help sell his rare, restored 1991 Nissan Figaro.
Owner Colin Turnbull’s ad on Kijiji admonishes with the headline, “Buy this car or I vote for Rob Ford.” The slogan also appears on a handmade sign Turnbull made for the car, which follows up with a warning: “The fate of Toronto rests in your hands!” It’s pretty clear which side of the fence Turnbull sits when it comes to the scandal-plagued mayor, who is running for re-election this October.
He told Global News that devising the slogan was his idea of standing out from the used car crowd. “I thought I would jump on his popularity so to speak,” he told Global News. “It seemed like a natural fit to get something to grab people’s attention.”
Turnbull bought the automatic convertible four years ago. The cute little two-door has been heavily restored in that time, with full body work done to remove dents, new paint applied, and new tires, brakes and shocks installed.
Only 20,000 of the small retro Japanese cars were made in its single year of production. Turnbull’s Figaro has clocked 104,000 km and is selling for $14,000 — with a vote thrown in for the other guy, if Turnbull follows through on his promise.
